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Crafty in the Med

I'm here to enjoy meeting other crafters and to share my ideas and projects. I love to crochet,cross stitch and embroidery but I'm keen to try new crafts too. I love music and I love to sing! Singing makes me happy. I collect jugs....its their shape I think! I am addicted to yarn and buttons. I get lost in book shops and can spend all morning there and I absolutely adore rummaging in flea markets. I love to read sci´fi/fantasy,buried treasure, and off world adventures. I have a passion for history! I would be the first passenger on the first time machine ! I BELIEVE IN MAGIC!

Sunday, 27 April 2014

I call it this because the colours remind me of the Dunes at Guardamar.
The pattern is not my own it is from Without Seams and you can find the pattern on Ravelry. The edging is mine and so is the overlaid ribbing.
This is a make I started back in January and put to one side as always I get very easily distracted by other interesting makes! This is another stash buster. I have so much yarn!!! As yet all these stash buster makes just don't seem to make any difference to my stash at all. Not even a dent!!!
I swear I haven't bought any new yarn.

I wanted to get these photos out to you as soon as possible of the different Holy week processions as they really are spectacular. Unfortunately my new mobile phone with enhanced camera functionality ( the main reason I decided to buy a new mobile phone) is so enhanced that it is hiding its functionality from me at present therefore my own photos taken at the processions were rubbish! I have therefore relied on these quite wonderful photos taken by a local photographer on Gente by Alicante

Preparing the floats outside of the Hermita de Santa Cruz situated below the Santa Barbara castle walls. This is the oldest area of the city.

The first float with the representation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus . The narrowest street in Alicante's old quarter and it is impossible to get more people into that street.

The main event,bringing Christ on the Cross down from the Hermitage. A very tricky descent and this float weighs a bomb. They are ducking here so the cross does not get entangled in the telephone wires. It is considered a privilege to be allowed to carry the Christ and very often handed down from father to son. The crucifix is taken to the cathedral and later returned to the hermitage. The climb back up all those steps is another impressive procession!

The Christ from Santa Cruz meets up with the Christ of the Sea at the door to the cathedral

The Holy week coming to an end and Christ Resurrected encounters Our Lady of Joy in the Town Hall square.

Sunday, 13 April 2014

I just can't leave them alone! I've put everything else to one side and I'm on a baby vintage bonnet making bing!!!!!
Although this is not my own pattern but comes from Tamara Kelly on Moogly . I have called this bonnet Puff Candy because the stitch, which isn't the popcorn stitch incidentally, and the puff colours remind me of candy or marshmallows.

I have also tweaked it adding 2 sc rows as edging and crocheted cords with a triple puff at each end. I was thinking that I could add a little bell inside each triple puff so it would tinkle everytime baby moves her head around. However I've been blessed or cursed with a vivid imagination and I began to think about those bells and began to imagine the possibility of baby sucking and biting through the triple puffs and swallowing the little bells. You know I would never be able to forgive myself if something happened to a baby because I was not cautious enough when making a garment for a child. Therefore I decided to foresake the pretty bells all together.

I used Red Heart Baby Soft in pink and Coats SMC Micro Grande Soft in white and Coats Bravo Grey and Fuchsia yarn and a Nº 5 crochet hook.

You may remember that I made a Bear Beanie in February for my Great Niece who lives in Devon,which I posted about here. Her mother has just sent me some snapshots where she is wearing the Bear Beanie and has given me permission to display a photo of G here on my blog modelling my Beanie....which she is delighted with, so her mother says.

Isn't she a cute model!!!!

Usual Sunday outing this morning! It is a fabulous day today...... 25 degrees!

We went for a walk along the beach promenade but ....I'm not walking along the promenade envious of the people on the beach anymore ....I'm for the beach and for a swim next week!

Postiguet Beach,Alicante

Sr P as usual with his back to the camera

It is Holy Week as from next Wednesday and I hope to be able to finish work and get up to Santa Cruz in the old quarter and see the procession. I also hope I get there on time to hear the Saeta ( a very old type of religious song sung only at Holy Week when the Cristo goes pass. Absolutely nothing like a hymn!!!) . I have been lucky enough to hear the Saeta once, some years back and it brought tears to my eyes. Impressive!

I mentioned on a previous post Sr P is not at all religious in fact quite the opposite but every year he tries to get up to see the Santa Cruz procession. It is part of their culture and tradition, part of the Alicantinos themselves.

Saturday, 5 April 2014

Marchbrought with it a continuation of the blustery gale like weather Alicante has been experiencing these last few months and very little rain...quite tedious! It seems although the sharp chill in the air has decreased and we have some lovely blue skies, the strong winds are still with us!

Last Sunday we decided to turn towards the other side of Alicante for our Sunday outing.

As we were at a bit of an odds with the change in hour we left the house later than we usually do. This meant we couldn't go too far afield so we went down to the Sailing club at the end of the Postiguet Beach. We wanted to see how much progress the council had made with the continuation of the new promenade. It was still a dirt track but more kilometers had been cleared so we could walk quite a way and in fact link up with the Albufereta beach. It is a beach we hadn't been to for quite some years.
It was a great walk and even more so as you can see from these photos as the sea was quite vocal and wild that morning. It can certainly not compare with the ferocious Atlantic and the terrible storms in Galicia or the UK over the previous months at all. This was a mini spectacle in comparison in fact I'd say it was quite enjoyable and drew forth quite a few spectators.

Why do we get so excited when we see big waves???

At least the public there didn't do stupid ,daft things like I had seen on TV coverage and on the web during the big storms elsewhere. I wish people would learn that you don't mess with Mother Nature....silly people!
Now then...... The Med is a usually a quiet sea which gets a bit irate occasionally but it is blessed with a calm nature most of the time.

It was a bit upset last Sunday!

The Spanish fishermen call the sea La Mar using the feminine gender when they refer to HER temperament ....she wasn't her normal splendid greeny blue at all that morning!

Mind you the sun still shone and managed to evade the clouds....

Sr P doesn't much like having his photo taken so get used to seeing his back .... I've given up asking him to turn around!!!!

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I've just finished another Beanie for my little great niece. I think I have been influenced by the March Winds as it it is quite curly and has a big breezy flower on the top. My own pattern. I just went along adding this and that ..very free style....la di dah!!!

It seems to be all beanies now and I'm getting quite fed up of them;making them that is!
I decided to turn back to a more vintage style and found this adorable pattern at KatieCooksand Crafts which I made up for my other great niece.

Are you shocked by the colour? I didn't want to make it in a traditional pastel color. I had this urge for something totally different and as my 15 month old great niece is a red head I thought green would do nicely.

The front looks a little drab but when you turn it around there's a shine of colour there on the back.

I so enjoyed making it.

I used the nice soft Coats SMC Micro Grande in all colours and a Nº 4 hook and it was made in a jiffy.

Good news for all.
Emma at the Log Cabin is back with a lovely new blog called Cosy Red and she would be delighted if old and new followers could pop in to say hello.